i am a man. last august i had protected sex with a woman and recieved unprotected oral sex. 18 days later she started to have symptoms that were swab tested to be positive for hsv2. i corresponded with Terri Warren on question # 9574. she was very informative and helpful. i was wondering if you guys had anything to add/expand upon her answers regarding hsv2. i still have no symptoms 6 months out. i also have been concerned with what else i may have been exposed to. ( mainly hiv) i have taken 4th generation ag/ab tests at 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 7 weeks, 8 weeks, 4 months, and 6 months now. all negative. my doctor told me that my 4 month test was conclusive, and really did not want to test me further. she said that with no new exposures there was no medical indication to test. i have read several times over the window period for a test to turn positive. i still read on the internet (WEB MD for example) that the window period could be up to 6 months. maybe i place too much trust in that and not of the experts. i sometimes feel like there is a possibility that i have hiv but its in my body and evades detection. questions

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Thank you sir for the response. I want to also add that she had follow up testing December 14th ( 3 1/2 months after we were together) and she was HIV negative. i am inclined to believe her, especially since she reached out to me about the hsv2. But again, i dont know her well. Do you or the other experts know of any cases where a person took longer than 6 months to test positive on a 4th generation test? i worry at times since i didnt have any symptoms, that maybe my body didnt produce antibodies at a detectable level. I try to reassure myself of the situation

hello doctor. so i did have one another question or 2 before we conclude this, one of which i asked a couple weeks ago. have you or DR. Handsfield ever seen a negative test at 6 months turn positive in your experience, reports, or literature? also, i take a mens one a day multivitamin. it contains 43 mcg of biotin. i dont remember for sure, but i think i stopped taking them days before at least some of my tests due to paranoia. but i have stumbeled upon reports of biotin causing false negative hiv tests. is this true? are my 6 tests spanning six months still conclusive regardless of taking a daily vitamin? thank you for your time

Sorry I missed your earlier follow-up questions.  In reply, results of 4th generation tests for HIV are 100% conclusive at any and all times more than 6 weeks after an exposure.  No one has EVER taken 6 months to develop a positive 4th generation test. Please believe your test results, they are absolutely conclusive.---

thank you for all of the help DR. you have been very helpful. It has been a stressfull six months since my possible "exposure". my pattern has been to read your answers and reassurances, then to surf the internet and try to find new reasons to be concerned. (like the biotin) i have negative tests stretching all the way out to six months, in addition to a low risk exposure(recieving oral sex) those are the FACTS. thanks again for all of the advice, in addition to the service you provide. unless you have anything else to add im going to do my best to let go of this doubt. take care 

Thanks for your thanks and I'm pleased you found the information I provided helpful.  As a generalization, while the internet is a great source of information about many things, it is the wrong place to ge for personal information about your health. It is un-edited  and much of what is there is inaccurate, either because it is out of date, it is information taken out of context or misinterpreted (like how much biotin it takes to interfere with tests), or on some occasions, because it is just plain wrong.  ---